Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford (center) Marcus Smart and Markel Brown (right) talk to the referee after Smart shoved a fan during a Saturday's game against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.
(Tori Eichberger | The Associated Press)

Sophomore guard Marcus Smart’s three-game suspension for pushing a fan at Texas Tech in the waning moments of Oklahoma State’s loss to the Red Raiders on Saturday prompts the question of whether the Cowboys are in serious jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament.

The answer is no, at least not yet, though there’s no doubt Oklahoma State’s stock has fallen over the last few weeks.

The Cowboys are pegged as a No. 7 seed in the West regional in the post-weekend bracket projection, with a trip to Spokane to play California. That’s a bit different than remaining in Big 12 country to play as a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in San Antonio, which seemed like it would be Oklahoma State’s fate a month ago.

Yet at the moment, would a team with a top-35 RPI, a 6-5 record away from home, a 6-6 record against the top 100, no issues to speak of with its nonconference schedule and just one loss outside the top 100 (Saturday’s setback at Texas Tech) get excluded? No chance, and it still has plenty of wiggle room to work with.

That’s despite a four-game slide and despite losing Smart for three games. However, the Cowboys’ struggles without injured forward Michael Cobbins (Achilles) during conference play become a greater factor the longer they have problems.

Oklahoma State (16-7, 4-6 Big 12) could continue to collapse, and an unforgiving league with few gimmes doesn’t help matters. But there’s still a ways to go before the Cowboys face that scenario.

A few other weekend risers and decliners before taking a look at Monday's schedule and the updated bracket projection ...

WEEKEND RISERS

Saint Joseph’s: The Hawks (16-7, 6-3 Atlantic 10) knocked off Virginia Commonwealth, adding a second top-50 victory and solidifying them as the new favorite for a possible fifth bid out of the A-10.

Southern Methodist: The Mustangs (19-5, 8-3 American) have a horrible nonconference strength of schedule and haven’t beaten a top-100 team outside of Dallas. But they also just smacked Cincinnati by 21. SMU has a lot more to do, but that’s an impressive result

Wisconsin: The Badgers (19-5, 6-5 Big Ten) have consecutive victories for the first time in a month after slipping past Michigan State. Everything on Wisconsin’s resume looks good besides a 1-5 slide, which might have served as a correction more than anything else.

WEEKEND DECLINERS

Boise State: From faint at-large hopes to basically done barring a Mountain West tournament title, the Broncos (15-9, 5-6) are now 6-9 against the top 200 after stumbling at Utah State. The “basically” gets dropped from that sentence if Boise can’t beat New Mexico on Wednesday.

Missouri: The Tigers (16-7, 4-6 SEC) are probably going to have to hope a victory over UCLA coupled with quantity is enough. Their loss at Mississippi, after setbacks against Kentucky and Florida, left them empty-handed from a critical stretch of conference play. Missouri has just two top-75 games remaining, a home-and-home with Tennessee.

Oregon: How, exactly, were the Ducks 13-0 at one point? They’ve dropped eight of 10 to go from a comfortable tournament team to one that’s out of wiggle room. There was no surprise they lost to the Pac-12’s Arizona schools on the road, but it makes a three-game homestand against Oregon State, Washington and Washington State all the more crucial.

MONDAY’S GAMES OF SIGNIFICANCE

Miami at Florida State, 7 (ESPN): The Seminoles (14-9, 5-6 ACC) simply cannot afford to give away a game against the Hurricanes (11-12, 2-8), a task made more complicated by an ankle injury that has cost guard Ian Miller the last two games.

Providence at Georgetown, 7 (Fox Sports 1): The Friars (16-8, 6-5 Big East) have dropped three of four, while the Hoyas (14-9, 5-6) have suddenly won three in a row to rekindle their postseason hopes. Providence won last month’s meeting 70-52.

Iowa State at West Virginia, 7 (ESPNU):The Mountaineers (14-10, 6-5 Big 12) are clinging to NCAA dreams, and might be able to lose one of their remaining four home games to keep their at-large hopes alive. Considering Kansas still has to visit Morgantown, this puts an onus on this game against the Cyclones.

Kansas at Kansas State, 9 (ESPN): The host Wildcats (16-7, 6-4 Big 12) secured a split with Texas in impressive fashion on Saturday. It’ll be tough to do the same against Kansas, which won the teams’ earlier meeting in Lawrence by 26.

Maryland at Virginia, 9 (ESPNU): The Terrapins (14-10, 6-5 ACC) make their final trip to Charlottesville for the foreseeable future in need of a notable road victory. Virginia (19-5, 10-1), which seems like an unlikely victim at this stage, is 4-0 against Mark Turgeon-coached Maryland teams.

Note: (Teams with their conference affiliation in parenthesis are projected to be automatic bids by winning the conference; in this bracket, the East winner would face the Midwest winner and the West winner would face the South winner)